(CNN) - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who gave Mitt Romney some trouble in the Republican presidential primaries, said the GOP would have to make big changes before he'd consider another White House run.

"I have no idea at this stage," Gingrich, 69, said Sunday about the possibility of a future campaign while taking part in a book-signing tour in Florida, according to the Naples Daily News.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - The official Christmas tree of the U.S. Capitol arrived Monday and will be illuminated at a ceremony on December 4.

Dozens of tourists, Capitol Hill staffers and news crews watched the tree's arrival along with Stephen Ayers, the Capitol architect. "My job is to officially accept the Capitol Christmas Tree on behalf of the Congress," he said.

(CNN) - House Majority Leader Eric Cantor became another Republican on Capitol Hill to suggest he is willing to put aside the Grover Norquist-backed pledge he signed not to raise taxes when considering options to avert the so-called fiscal cliff.

Cantor said in interviews Monday that his Virginia constituents did not re-elect him earlier this month to a seventh term because he had signed the pledge not to increase tax rates advanced by Norquist's group Americans for Tax Reform.FULL POST

(CNN) – New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's response to the superstorm that blasted his state appears to have won the outspoken Republican higher approval ratings, according to a poll released Monday.

The survey from Fairleigh Dickinson University showed Christie with an already-high approval rating of 56% among registered voters before the storm hit New Jersey in early November. The same respondents were polled after the storm, and Christie's approval rating jumped to 77%.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - The Supreme Court has ordered a federal appeals court to take another look at whether a key requirement in the health care reform law violates religious freedoms.

A pending lawsuit from the private Liberty University had claimed, among other things, that the law would lead to taxpayer dollars funding abortions and contraception, a claim the Obama administration rejects. The justices issued their order Monday.

(Money Magazine) - President Obama has had hardly a moment to bask in his win. Looming ahead is January's so-called fiscal cliff - the tax hikes and spending cuts that will kick in automatically if the White House can't cut a deal with Republicans in Congress before year-end.

For you, that means uncertainty about the taxes you'll face in 2013 and beyond. Without an agreement, most marginal income tax rates will rise, and the top long-term capital gains rate will go from 15% to 20%.

Editor's note: Pete Davis is president of Davis Capital Investment Ideas. He worked for Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, serving as an economist for the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Senate Budget Committee.

Washington (CNNMoney) - Despite what the optimists say, it's too early to count on a fiscal cliff deal.

Senior staffers have been trying to set the broad outlines of a compromise - dollar amounts of revenue increases and spending cuts.